I am interested to hear what bore width (small versus wide) does for a flute.
does it matter at all?
sometimes I think it doesn’t matter much, that it is the player who matters.
on the other hand, I think (logically???) wider bores are louder.
or are they at all 
your opinions please
cheers
berti
I would say bore width and the profile of the bore are two of many factors that interact to determine both volume of the flute, as well as the balance of octave against octave.
I think a wide bore tends to favor the low octave while making the third octave somewhat harder to sound, where a narrow bore has an easier second and third octave at the expense of some of the power and response of the low octave.
I do think a wider bore will tend to be a louder flute if all other factors are equal.
Tone hole size and placement, the taper of the bore, the chimney height of the tone holes and the embouchure hole, and especially the cut of the embouchure hole are also extremely important factors, with the cut of the embouchure probably being the single most important.
–James
The cut of the embochure really is the most important thing. A wider bore can be pusher harder to be louder but it depends on the player. For example last night I was at a session sitting next to another Fluter who was playing an Olwell Pratten, I was playing my Geert Lejune 5088 style Rudall (round embochure). I was way louder than the other player, which annoyed me to no end if l you have a Pratten use the power you can use especially if you have a freakin Olwell. Plus that person was kind of a snob. The Rudall player sitting across the room (I think it was another Olwell) was drowned out by the 4 Boxes and countless Fiddles (about 10) same with the Sindt whistle player next to him. So moral of the story the Flute matters but not as much as the player, if you want to have a lot of power get a Pratten if you want a sweeter tone get a Rudall.
But all things being equal, the bigger the bore, the more air it requires? So you get more volume of sound and more power, but the flute will require a lot more puff.
Dude, that is a seriously big session!!!
This is actually a complex question - bore diameter is just one factor that has to be taken into consideration with several others in determining how it affects a flute - as well as how this can be used to improve a flute or figure out why one design works versus other designs.
The headjoint bore is important, but so are factors like chimney height, embouchure size, edge quality, undercutting, shape and outside bevelling. These factors are all affected by bore diameter and vice versa for a flute to work well. Curiously, some 19th century flute types (Rudall, Pratten, Prowse) all settled on an ideal bore diameter around 18.85mm with many exceptions - this may also have had to do with what was available for tuning slide tubing than acoustics - forcing the other factors to work to this bore diameter rather than the other way around. Other factors affecting the overall flute voicing include the overall degree of taper, where the taper starts, hole placement, sizing and undercutting etc.
It really can’t be said that a larger bore necessarily requires more air. Embouchure sizing, however, affects this more. I have seen some really large bored Potters with small embouchures that play with a very light touch. Keeping other factors constant, I’ve tried Prattens with perfect original embouchures that play quite easily - whereas the ones with mucked up and enlarged embouchures require more air or coverage by the lip. Some of these were in for headjoint replacement. Similarly, on my own Rudall copies I can bias the flute towards an edgy tone or keep it more tounded and classical by attention t.o the embouchure - my preference being right at the point where it begins to cross over.
These flutes are actually very complex systems. There are some basic explanations of acoustics of these - but these usually refer to tone hole placement and intonation but little with factors of what makes a good flute vs. the alternative. Wish it was easy to reduce it to a few basic facts - it would make my job easier, but much less interesting.
Casey
Huge, 20 plus people. It was so chaotic not like one of those small friendly sessions but a big uninviting mess of people good thing I got there early.
wow casey thanks, found it a very interesting read but hasn’t made it easier for deciding what I want hehe…guess will have to wait till I hear from the flutemaker and just discuss and ask questions
hmmmm how long can a wait be.
cheers
berti
There seems to be a lot of agreement here but little acknowledgement of it. Of course agreement need not be EXPRESS as it will be self evident. However, those of us with lifelong experience of live meetings, group discussions and conversations etc would avow that it never hurts to express consonance with a previous speaker’s points if such is the case.